Jon Spencer's OSU-Michigan Report Card

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OFFENSIVELINE

For the most part, Braxton Miller had ample time to throw, but he was sacked a couple of times because of his own bad footing. And, other than the 52-yard bomb on the first series to Devin Smith, had the same trouble spotting open receivers that he had at Wisconsin. The holes weren't big for the running game, but Miller's hesitation was worse. The Buckeyes wasted a second-and-one from the 4 (missed field goal) and a first down from the 29 (strip-sack). But the front five did its best work down the stretch, eating the clock on some bullish runs by Carlos Hyde.

GRADE: B

RUNNING GAME

It was one of the craziest stat lines you'll see from a running quarterback. Braxton Miller had 108 yards on 20 carries, but only 57 net, his long gain of 42 negated by 51 yards in losses. The last two weeks have mostly been Miller conducting a how-not-to-win-the Heisman campaign. Maybe the pressure of closing out a 12-0 season got to him, but he hasn't been the same since the bye week. Carlos Hyde, on the other hand, got stronger as the season went on and finished Saturday with 146 yards on 26 carries. Michigan ran out of time because of Hyde and the O-line.

GRADE: B plus

PASSING GAME

Devin Smith came back from the dead to catch a 52-yard pass on the first drive, setting up a TD. Braxton Miller was very accurate against the nation's best pass defense (14 of 18, 189 yards), but other than the early pass to Smith the Buckeyes had trouble stretching the field. Corey "Philly" Brown had a nice game with eight catches for 95 yards and a TD.

GRADE: B

DEFENSIVE LINE

The best kept secret was the knee injury that kept John Simon out of the game and might have cost him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors. Aldophus Washington, replacing Simon, strip-sacked Devin Gardner on the first series, and Jonathan Hankins forced another fumble from Gardner in the fourth quarter that led to a a field goal. A roughing call on Nate Williams kept a Michigan TD drive alive, but he atoned with a big fumble recovery in the third quarter. Everybody picked up the slack in Simon's absence.

GRADE: B plus

LINEBACKERS

Ryan Shazier only had five tackles, but blew up a game-turning fourth down gamble in the third quarter by stuffing Denard Robinson. The legend that is Zach Boren had a team-high nine tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery as the Buckeyes held the Wolverines to zero points and 60 yards total offense in the second half and Denard Robinson to minus-2 yards on four second half carries.

GRADE: A

DEFENSIVE BACKS

C.J. Barnett whiffed on Roy Roundtree's 83-yard TD catch-and-run. The Wolverines overloaded the right side, OSU didn't adjust, and Roundtree turned a single into a home run. But Barnett had a lead-preserving interception late in the fourth quarter, so all was forgiven. An up-and-down day overall for the secondary. Travis Howard and Christian Bryant converged to make a tackle - of each other - on Denard Robinson's 67-yard TD run, but the secondary helped keep Devin Gardner, the Big Ten's hottest quarterback, in check.

GRADE: B

SPECIAL TEAMS

This unit reared its ugly head for the umpteenth time. Corey Brown muffed a punt return at the OSU 25 after the Buckeyes had roughed the punter in the same sequence. It led to a Michigan TD. Drew Basil, almost forgotten this season, had field goals of 52, 28 and 25 yards, but also missed a 39-yarder that would have extended a 23-21 lead.

GRADE: C

COACHING

It was obvious from the way the usually slow-starting Buckeyes scored on their first series that the coaching staff had them ready to go. But the late hit out-of-bounds, the roughing the punter penalty and the roughing the passer flags in the first half reeked of undisciplined play. After the break, OSU did a much better job of keeping its emotions in check and delivered a much-deserved victory for its first-year head coach. Kudos, too, to co-defensive coordinators Luke Fickell and Everett Withers. Urban Meyer said his only input on that side of the ball was saying to "stop the quarterback run."

GRADE: A

- Jon Spencer

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Jon Spencer's OSU-Michigan Report Card

For the most part, Braxton Miller had ample time to throw, but he was sacked a couple of times because of his own bad footing.